[Peace-discuss] From the Independent (UK)

[C. G. Estabrook]

[An account of the campaign that Lisa mentioned at tonight's meeting. Over
to you, liberal Urbana...  --CGE]

	American mayors unite to implement Kyoto goals
	on carbon dioxide levels
	By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
	16 May 2005

Frustrated by the Bush administration's refusal to ratify the Kyoto
Treaty, 132 US mayors have pledged to enforce its regulations in their own
cities.

In a rejection of the government's position, which claimed it would be too
damaging to the US economy to enforce tougher environmental restrictions,
the group of bipartisan city leaders have vowed to try to meet Kyoto's
main target - a reduction in greenhouse gases to less than seven per cent
of where they stood in 1990 in less than 10 years.

The cities involved range from liberal centres such as Los Angeles,
California, to strongholds of conservatism such as Hurst, in President
Bush's home state of Texas. Between them they represent almost 29 million
citizens spread across 35 different states.

They are united by the idea that even if the federal government will not
sign-up to Kyoto, a difference can be made at a local level.

Across the country, the shift in policies required if the cities are to
hope to meet their targets is already underway. In Seattle, whose mayor
Greg Nickel is one of the organisers of the coalition, cruise ships that
come in to dock are now required to turn off their diesel engines while
resupplying and rely on electricity provided by the city. The mayor's
office said that by the end of the year, Seattle's power utility, Seattle
City Light, will be the only one in the country with no net emissions of
greenhouse gases.

In Salt Lake City, the city authority has become Utah's largest buyer of
wind power in order to meet its reduction target. In New York, the
administration of Michael Bloomberg, which signed up last week, is trying
to reduce emissions from the municipal motor fleet by buying
hybrid-powered vehicles.

The mayor of low-lying New Orleans, Ray Nagin, a Democrat, told The New
York Times that he joined the coalition because a projected rise in sea
levels "threatens the very existence of New Orleans".

In Hawaii, the mayor of Maui County, Alan Arakawa, a Republican, said he
joined because he was frustrated by the administration's failure to
recognise the scientific consensus that climate change was happening
because of human activity.

Nathan Mantua, of the Centre for Science in the Earth System at the
University of Washington, which estimates the impact of global warming on
the US north-west, said the coalition's efforts were probably of limited
global impact. "It is clearly a politically significant step in the right
direction," he said. "It may be an environmentally significant step for
air quality in the cities that are going to do this, but for the global
warming problem it is a baby step."

The coalition of mayors is not the only local initiative to reduce
emissions of such gasses. Last November, nine states, led by New York's
Governor, George Pataki, announced a system to cap and trade greenhouse
gas emissions. Under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI),
industries covered by the schemes will be given allocations in units of
one ton of carbon dioxide produced. Polluters could then either reduce
their emissions or buy allocations on a market from others. In the US,
sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, which cause acid rain and
smog, are federally regulated and traded, but there is no federal
regulation of carbon dioxide.

A White House official said that joining the Kyoto Treaty, which came into
effect last February, would have cost the US economy five million jobs.

 © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd